Singer-songwriter Andy Grammer finds freedom in success

Friday

Andy Grammer joins Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops to open the spring 2018 season at Symphony Hall on May 10, with a concert that repeats May 11; he'll also perform at Tanglewood June 22.

When singer/songwriter Andy Grammer broke through on the pop charts in 2011, he broke big.

With the back-to-back feel-good hits “Keep Your Head Up” and “Fine By Me,” from his self-titled debut album, Grammer became the first male pop star in a decade to reach the Top 10 on Adult Pop Radio with his first two singles.

He kept the hits coming, too, with the triple-platinum “Fresh Eyes,” “Honey, I’m Good,” one of 2015’s best-selling songs, and the certified gold anthem “Good to Be Alive (Hallelujah)” off his second album, “Magazines or Novels.”

When it came time for his third album, 2017’s “The Good Parts,” Grammer wanted to continue that winning formula, while also evolving.

“I’m always trying to broaden the spectrum of colors I paint with," Grammer said during a recent telephone interview from his home in Los Angeles. "And I think one of the best ways to use contrast is by being as honest as possible. By pushing boundaries and being self-deprecating, you can also go for the sweeter things.

“I like to write positive, happy songs. I know they can sometimes come across as too sweet, but it takes real effort to make something happy not sound cheesy,” he said. “I feel like that is my life’s work. And these days, we need love in all its forms.”

Grammer joins Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops to open the spring 2018 season at Symphony Hall on May 10, with a concert that repeats May 11. He'll also perform at Tanglewood June 22.

The singer’s legion of fans have continued to show him love since the December release of "The Good Parts" on S-Curve Records.

“There was a lot more pressure on the second album. I felt like if I didn’t get it right on the second album, there might not be a third. It went so well, though, that there was more freedom with this one, which let me go to different places with the music,” says Grammer.

For Grammer, son of singer and songwriter Robert Crane “Red” Grammer and the late Kathryn Willoughby, getting to one of those places meant candid conversations with his friends, and even some relative strangers.

“The idea of this album is that we all have a deeper story to tell. It is harder to get to for some people, but if you sit with them you can get to the deeper, more interesting parts of the story. On tour with my last album, I would have ‘Good Parts’ roundtables in each city so I could meet people and hear their stories.

“It was about sharing feelings and being genuinely vulnerable. Your vulnerability is a gift you give to others. It’s how we get closer,” he says.

Grammer, who competed on the 21st season of ABC-TV’s “Dancing with the Stars,” finishing in seventh place, acknowledges that the approach to his latest album is one he has taken in his own personal life for some time.

“My friends say I’m always trying to take things deeper. They’re right. I can’t have another conversation about the weather. I’m sorry, but I have to go deeper.

“My mother died nine years ago and around my last birthday I was really missing her. So I invited a bunch of my closest friends to get together and share memories. We ended up ugly crying for about four hours. It was all about telling the best parts of our stories, not leaving anything out, which is what this album does track by track,” says the 34-year-old.

For the prolific songwriter, a new album means writing many more than the needed 10 or 12 songs.

“I’ve always written a lot of songs. We have a super-high standard and it can take 100 songs to get just what you need for an album. For this one, it took 115.

“When you write so many songs, the quality can be hard to achieve. It takes a lot of energy and time to write even one song that rolls off the tongue,” according to Grammer.

Grammer was 15 when he first discovered songwriting.

“I grew up in a house where my dad was a Grammy-nominated children’s songwriter and I learned to play the trumpet as a child. In high school, however, I was all about basketball.

“Then one day I pulled my head up for Lauryn Hill and John Mayer and took a full left turn to music and songwriting,” he said.

His life took another turn last summer, when he and wife Aijia Lise welcomed their first child, daughter Louisiana K, born July 28, 2017.

“When it comes to Louie, my wife calls me ‘Soft Serve,’ ” says the proud father with a laugh. “So much of what makes life worth living is balance. I’m a really intense guy, and Louie has given me balance. I turn off my phone for my child.”

And what does the 9-month-old think of her pop star father?

“We had her out with us recently and she came on stage with me in Detroit. She was fully asleep in my arms. I think she might have slept through the whole show.”

No word yet on whether or not Louie will be in Boston, but her father says he is definitely ready to be back.

“It’s very different doing my music with the Boston Pops. It’s a big deal and it’s also very sweet. I love being one voice in a huge congregation of great musicians,” he says.